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Originally Posted by Victoria
Bookpossum I agree that Malamud is talking about self-determination and the choices Roy & the others made.
But he painted such a vivid picture of life too. Bump’s behaviour was bullying and cruel, and yet none of the players stood up to him. Sam and Bump both died in violent freak accidents. The fans had no loyalty and were down right nasty. Max/Memo / Judge / Gus - were out for number one. Sam’s/Pop’s/Bump’s/Roy’s / dreams were futile, etc. And the story was littered with other tragedies, such as Roy’s parents, Harriet, etc
The feeling he conveyed was “everything is futile”; or life is meaningless. Which contradicts the message of being masters of our own fate. The ‘moral’ and the ‘feeling’ seem to diverge.
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This. It's all ultimately meaningless in Malamud's view.
Iris ends up hit by a foul ball and pregnant--that's her reward for virtue? Bump is killed in a freak accident when he tries to play ball the right way. Roy is destroyed despite his epiphany and his effort to do the right thing. Malamud seems to be saying the universe is going to dump on you no matter what you do. What follows from that is, why bother to try to act morally? Why not just grab what you can, do what you want--the universe is going to get you anyway.
This is too bleak for me. I would be less bothered by Roy's downfall if he deliberately struck out and lost the game--then I could agree that his fall was deserved. But it kills me that he tried at the end and got not even a little bit of redemption.
I think I'll stick with the movie version.